Intentions to Marry, 1920 Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840495, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1920 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1920h contains pages 3441-3864, covering districts from Dunstan to Chatham Islands

Page 3554

District of Oamaru Quarter ending 31 March 1920 Registrar F. S. Chisholm

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

3 February 1920

Albert Reuben Sutton
Isabell Todd

Albert Reuben Sutton
Isabell Todd
💍 1920/5412

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Domestic Duties

22
21

Whitstone
Oamaru

22 years
21 years

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru

2946

3 February 1920

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	6
Date of Notice	3 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert Reuben Sutton	Isabell Todd
	💍 1920/5412
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Domestic Duties
Age	22	21
Dwelling Place	Whitstone	Oamaru
Length of Residence	22 years	21 years
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Oamaru
Folio	2946
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

4 February 1920

Kenneth Matheson
Kathleen Eccles

Kenneth Matheson
Kathleen Eccles
💍 1920/5413

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Housemaid

29
29

Oamaru
Oamaru

4 days
25 years

Methodist Church, Oamaru South

2947

4 February 1920

Rev. John Alexander Lochore, Methodist

No	7
Date of Notice	4 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Kenneth Matheson	Kathleen Eccles
	💍 1920/5413
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Housemaid
Age	29	29
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	4 days	25 years
Marriage Place	Methodist Church, Oamaru South
Folio	2947
Consent
Date of Certificate	4 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Alexander Lochore, Methodist

9 February 1920

Reginald George Sampson
Annie Rachel Prosser

Reginald George Sampson
Annie Rachel Prosser
💍 1920/5414

Widower 16.12.1918
Spinster

Police Constable
Domestic duties

33
32

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
32 years

St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

2948

9 February 1920

Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

No	8
Date of Notice	9 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Reginald George Sampson	Annie Rachel Prosser
	💍 1920/5414
Condition	Widower 16.12.1918	Spinster
Profession	Police Constable	Domestic duties
Age	33	32
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	32 years
Marriage Place	St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	2948
Consent
Date of Certificate	9 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

11 February 1920

Mark Sinclair
Mary Dunbar Taylor

Mark Sinclair
Mary Dunbar Taylor
💍 1920/5415

Bachelor
Spinster

Butter-maker
Waitress

23
19

Oamaru
Oamaru

10 years
17 years

Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru

2949

Susan Jameson (Mother)

11 February 1920

Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

No	9
Date of Notice	11 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Mark Sinclair	Mary Dunbar Taylor
	💍 1920/5415
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butter-maker	Waitress
Age	23	19
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	10 years	17 years
Marriage Place	Columba Presbyterian Church, Oamaru
Folio	2949
Consent	Susan Jameson (Mother)
Date of Certificate	11 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. Walter McLean, Presbyterian

21 February 1920

Charles Banwell
Evelyn Aitken

Charles Banwell
Evelyn Aitken
💍 1920/5417

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Waitress

27
22

Oamaru
Oamaru

3 days
3 days

St. Luke's Anglican Church, Thames Street, Oamaru

2950

21 February 1920

Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

No	10
Date of Notice	21 February 1920
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Charles Banwell	Evelyn Aitken
	💍 1920/5417
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Waitress
Age	27	22
Dwelling Place	Oamaru	Oamaru
Length of Residence	3 days	3 days
Marriage Place	St. Luke's Anglican Church, Thames Street, Oamaru
Folio	2950
Consent
Date of Certificate	21 February 1920
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Delacourt Russell, Church of England

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1908. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).